The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-392008 filed on Dec. 25, 2001 and No. 2001-391994 filed on Dec. 25, 2001, including the specification, drawings, and abstract are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of Invention
This invention is related to a fuel supply device for an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of Related Art
In an internal combustion engine, a fuel-air mixture is compressed and then ignited (spontaneously ignited in a diesel engine) in a cylinder, and an expanding force of the fuel-air mixture after ignition is output as a driving force. Naturally, fuel needs to be supplied prior to combustion. Currently, fuel is generally supplied by injection to an intake port and by direct injection into the cylinder. Also, in recent years, importance has been placed on considerations toward the environment. Therefore, further improvements in exhaust gas purification performance and further improvements in fuel consumption performance are strongly demanded.
In various exemplary embodiments the present invention improves exhaust gas purification performance and fuel consumption performance, as well as improvement of exhaust gas purification performance and fuel consumption performance after a cold start and prior to the completion of warm-up.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a fuel supply device for an internal combustion engine that can promote the atomization of the fuel during fuel injection (in particular, during cold start), and further improve exhaust gas purification performance and fuel consumption performance.
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a fuel supply device for an internal combustion engine is provided that includes at least one cylinder that is formed in a cylinder block, a cylinder head that is joined to the upper portion of the cylinder block, a fuel injection valve that injects fuel into the cylinder or an intake passage that communicates with the cylinder, a delivery pipe that is embedded in the cylinder and supplies fuel to the fuel injection valve, and a sealing member that is provided in a joint portion of the same delivery pipe and fuel injection valve.
Accordingly, the fuel is heated by the delivery pipe that is embedded in the cylinder head, and the atomization of the fuel after injection is promoted. Thereby, the improvement of each type of performance is realized as a result of reliable combustion.
The provision of a fuel passage in the cylinder head is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-14072. The improvement of exhaust gas purification and fuel consumption by heating the fuel, however, is not the object of the fuel supply device that is disclosed in the publication. Also, matters related to the securing of fluid-tight conditions in a fuel system are not studied in any way. The present invention improves exhaust gas purification performance and fuel consumption performance, while also securing fluid-tight conditions in the fuel system.